Since discovering my mutant powers I've been an off again on again member of the team of mutant outlaws called the X-men. I was always the joker on the team throwing snowballs at the villain while the others went at them full force. Unlike others in the group who spent hours a day training and honing their mutant powers to perfection I have until recently been fairly inconstant in that department. While the others put in the hours in the danger room I spent my time ridiculing them that they never took the time to enjoy life like I did. While they became more and more powerful members of the team I guess you could say I stagnated. I was made painfully aware of this a few months ago by my procession by the White Queen. She used the powers I've had most of my life to greater use than I ever had, despite the fact she only had them a few hours. I've put a lot of thought into the reason for that recently and I think I know the reason why. I'm an optimist. I never developed my powers fully because I never thought I would ever have to. I never thought the world would fall as far as it's fallen. I always thought that the hatred between mutants and humans could only improve. I was wrong. They hate us more than ever. Who can blame them. We've brought an incurable plague upon them called the Legacy Virus. We've killed their greatest heroes and in the process destroyed most of the island of Manhattan putting millions out of house and home. I never prepared myself to live in a world this horrible and the cost of this mistake my be my life. They've come after me. They've sent the unstoppable powerhouse called the Juggernaut after me. I don't stand a chance against him. Somebody...please help me...I don't want to die...
Graydon Creed deserved to die...After wasting an hour of my life watching his Biography on A&E that's the only thought that crosses my mind. A couple months ago I would have felt some remorse, some regret over the way things have gone recently. A couple month back I was in a heated argument with Magneto...(excuse me Joseph) over the fact that the X-men allowed men like him to exist. Back then I was a firm believer in Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence. That was before the professor went nuts, before Creed put my father in intensive care at the hospital I've been spending most of my time at recently. I can see now how misguided I was. For every step we took forward toward Xavier's final goal there would always be something to send us a couple steps back. Nowadays it doesn't even appear that we're making that one step forward anymore. Xavier's gone, locked away like some criminal. The dreamer is gone and from the look of things so is his dream.
I hate hospitals...Come to think of it I can't remember meeting anyone who really cares that much for them. I think the hospitals make themselves uncomfortable on purpose to tell the truth. I mean they don't want anyone to stay any longer than they have to. Most of the doctors don't even want to be here...just serving the time until they can get their own private practices. I led a fairly charmed life health wise having only had to make two trips to the hospital in my twenty-some years on this Earth. The first time when I shattered my right ankle when I rolled my Dad's pickup and the second when my mutant powers kicked in for the first time. The rest of my injuries have been taken care of by my good friend the Beast. My dad on the other hand has always been plagued by bad health but this time it's not his fault he's here. It's mine.
As I walk into his room I wonder what my life would have been like if I had not been born a mutant. It's funny you know because this is the first time I've ever asked myself this question. I've always been kind of glad I've had these powers. They made me different. They were something I had that no one else did and for the first time I wonder if this is a bad thing. Being a mutant was one of the greatest things that ever happen to me. They're cool powers too (pun not intended). I mean they're better than Warren's. All he can do is fly. I could be one of the more powerful members of the team if I ever put my mind to it. It was great. It still would be but now all I can think about is how great it would be to be normal. That pretty nurse that I always flirt with at the main desk would probably shoot me dead if she found out I was a mutant. They truly hate us and god help me for the first time in my life I'm beginning to understand why. I'm beginning to hate myself too.
My father's getting worse. I'm don't like the way things have be going lately and it looks like they're only going to get worse. Well, you know what they say...it's always darkest before the dawn. Making my way though the parkade of the hospital I notice that I'm not the only one who's having problems with their car recently. It would appear that the two year warranty has just expired on the pretty nurse from the main desk's car as well. Far be it from me to turn down a damsel in distress. Maybe my luck is on the upswing. She lets out a short scream when I ask if she needs a hand. I guess I surprised her or something. It's probably not a good idea to sneak up on women in parkades. Lucky I didn't get a face full of mace. After a few minute's inspection under the hood I manage to get her car going. I'm no mechanic but my dad taught me a bit. Enough to know that her car's problem was most likely not accidental. Why would she deliberately sabotage her car I think for a second before it all comes together. Of course, she knew I stop by and help her...if I play my cards right I might get a date out of this little encounter. I turn to speak to her when I get the feeling we're not alone. A split second later I feel a blunt object slam into the back of my head. As I begin to lose consciousness I swear I hear the pretty nurse call me a filthy mutant and then the world fades to black.
***
I really wish that idiot would stop jabbing me in the ribs with that cane of his. I've been conscious for the past five minutes but I don't want him to know that. I've decided to take Scott's advice this time and played possum until I've gotten a better grasp on the situation I've gotten myself into. I find that it works better than Logan's method which would have been to go into a psychotic rampage when I came to. Past experience has shown me that Logan's method only tends to work if you happen to have a healing factor. Also Scott's method has given my killer headache some time to die down so know it only feels like they took half my head off with that baseball bat or whatever it was they hit me with. As far as I can tell I'm on board a helicopter of some sort and it appears to be moving fairly fast. As to where I'm going I have no idea...my captors aren't very big on talking. Again with the cane...enough with this...I'm going to take that cane and ram it up...I'm stopped in mid-thought when the pilot shouts something back toward us. The next thing I know I'm in free fall having been toss out of the door of the helicopter. I manage to shift in to my ice form before I hit the sand dune. The sand dune? Where the hell am I?
Pulling myself to my feet the first thing I notice besides the renewed pounding in my head is that I'm in the middle of a desert. A desert or a very large beach. The second thing I notice is that I appear to have a metal collar strapped around my neck. It's not a restraint collar cause I was able to use my powers to shift into my ice form so what the heck is it. My God it's hot out where ever I am...guess it's a lucky thing I'm the Iceman. Forming an ice slide I begin to make my way in the direction the helicopter headed before it vanished over the horizon. I make it about a couple meters up when my ice slide collapses sending me tumbling to the ground. Maybe this collar...no I can't believe how stupid I am. I'm in the middle of a desert...there's next to no moisture in the air for me to convert into ice. Looks like I'm making the trip on foot and with a thought I try to change back into human form. I say try because it turns out I can't...guess I found out what this collar does. I'd better get this thing off before I melt away into nothing. I not sure that's what will happen but I know when Post took a sizable chunk out of my chest a while back I saw that in this form I'm mostly if not entirely made out of ice. I have a seat of the dune and begin to work on the collar when I realize I'm not alone anymore.
No! Anybody but him. I feel my stomach drop as I stare at the towering figure a few feet away. Step-brother of the professor, the Juggernaut is one of the few people I truly fear on this Earth. Every time I've gone against him he barely even notices my attacks. Me and my snow balls don't even qualify as an annoyance to him and I've always been grateful for this because I've seen what he can do when he does take notice of you. Now as I listen to him laugh at how easily he's going to kill me, at how he expected more of a challenge for the money they were paying him to do this I realize I'm going to die. I've been set up...placed in an environment where my pitiful powers are even more so...alone against one of the most powerful foes the X-men have ever faced...the Juggernaut.
I knew firing the ice bolt was a mistake right away. First it never even touched him...shattering into pieces on the force field that surrounds him and second because sending the ice bolt nearly drained me completely. This hot dry air is seriously affecting my powers. I make two mistakes in the next few seconds. The first was to laugh at his failed attempt at creating a ground quake with his fists on the sand dune and the second was forgetting about the other favored maneuver practiced by powerhouses like the Juggernaut. My ear drums surely would have been shattered by the shock wave created by the clapping of his massive hands if I had not been in my ice form. As it was it only drove me to my knees screaming in pain as my headache increased a hundred fold. My equilibrium was shot as I staggered to my feet in my feeble attempt to move out of the way of the advancing Juggernaut. I failed miserably. Never in my life have I been hit as hard as I was right now. My entire upper chest shattered into hundreds of ice shards as his fist made impact. His single blow nearly tore me in half. I must have blacked out for a couple seconds during my flight though the air because the next thing I know I was skipping across the desert floor like a skipping stone about a hundred yards from where I started. As I come to a stop I quickly realized he's done a lot more damage than I had thought. I look down in shock at where my right arm had use to be. The funny thing is was that it didn't hurt, at least not as much as I expected it to. I don't know if I can reform a new one...I don't think I'll get a chance to try either. At a speed I would think impossible for a man of his size the Juggernaut thunders toward me. I'm going to die.
I ran for my life or at least I tried to. I manage to make it a whole ten feet before he caught me. He caught me by the left hand crushing it in the process all the while making some lame joke about my lost right arm. Whipping me around he let go of the remains of my left hand and gripped me by the throat with his right hand. I promised myself I would never do it but as his hand began to crush my neck I lost it. In all my life I never willingly took a life. One second later it was over. It was so easy. I had done the impossible...I had beaten the Juggernaut. I froze him solid most likely bursting every blood vessel in his body in the process. I dropped to the desert floor as his grip on my neck slackened and I watch in stun silence as he falls unmoving into the sand. I must have sat there in silence for a full five minutes thinking about what I had done. I had killed him. It's not like he gave me much choice but still...I was a murderer. I had crossed a line I swore I'd never would. I don't think I'll ever forgive myself...As a matter a fact I know I won't.
I am dying. Who ever did this knew what they were doing. They got me trapped in my ice form...this damn metal collar won't come off. I laugh quietly to myself I think to myself that this is how Frosty the Snowman must have felt. Why am I thinking that? I should be scared of dying but I'm not. I guess I'm a joker to the end. As I stagger over the next sand dune I see that's there's only about a million more to go. I hear the cracking as my right leg begins to fall apart and I'm too weak to even try to keep it together. As I fall face first into the sand I see that this is as far as I go. I'm melting...what a world. I never noticed how... There's someone behind me...I'm saved. The X-men must've found me. Hank will fix me up good as new. "Nothing stops the Juggernaut!" are the last words I hear before he snaps my neck. I forgot the Juggernaut has a healing factor. Next time I kill someone I guess I should make sure they're dead...
***
Half way around the world Scott Summers is woken up by his screaming wife.
***
Bastion was in a good mood. It had begun. Iceman had fallen the rest would soon follow. Entering the cell of the mutant scum known as Jubilee Bastion began to smile. As Jubilee began her daily barrage of insults at him Bastion removed a large object from the bag he brought in with him.
"I thought I'd bring you a little present...liven up your cell." Bastion said as he placed the object in the light a few feet in front of his captive Jubilee.
Jubilee stared at the ice sculpture in front of her. It looked just like the head of Iceman. What was this suppose to mean. She shouted this question at the departing Bastion. Turning toward her he smiled before he stated.
"What it means...that should be fairly clear...it has begun...the end of your beloved X-men is at hand." Bastion began to laugh.
The End?